There are many analogous quotes, but this one, for me, has always captured the essence the best:
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's Equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be
contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle
things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second
law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it
but to collapse in deepest humiliation.
* Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1915), chapter 4
/************************************
Down with categorical imperative!
flutzpah@yahoo.com
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________________________________
From: Krishna Chowdary <chowdark@evergreen.edu>
To: Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 8:29:46 PM
Subject: [Phys-l] "Nothing in physics makes sense except in the light of ..."
Dear Physics Colleagues
I'd like to propose a game, one I don't think we've played before on this list.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin "(Evolution) is a general postulate to
which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must henceforward bow
and which they must satisfy in order to be thinkable and true.
Evolution is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory which
all lines of thought must follow — this is what evolution is."
Theodosius Dobzhansky "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the
light of evolution." (actually the title of his essay).
As I mentioned above, these statements are controversial and
debatable, and certainly provocative. I'm not particularly equipped
to judge the merits of those positions.
I am interested to know if a similarly broad and powerful statement
could be proposed for physics, and what kinds of productive
conversations a similarly bold claim might provoke among us:
"Nothing in physics makes sense except in the light of ___________." or
"(______) is a general postulate to which all theories, all
hypotheses, all systems must henceforward bow and which they must
satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. ________ is a light which
illuminates all facts, a trajectory which all lines of thought must
follow - this is what _____ is."
It might be that we play this game for certain subfields of physics:
"Nothing in thermodynamics makes sense except in the light of
__________" or "Nothing in classical electrodynamics makes sense
except in the light of _________", but I think it would be more fun if
we tried it as broadly as possible. We might also want to play for
mathematics, or chemistry, or astronomy, or what have you.
I hope this might be interesting for some of you. I will wait for a
few responses before introducing my suggestions.
sincerely,
Krishna
Krishna Chowdary
Faculty, Math & Physics
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505
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